Now we should all acknowledge our Holocaust guilt.' Denmark and the Holocaust as European Identity
Author
Summary, in English
The subject for this paper is the role of the Holocaust in contemporary
European politics of identity. The Council of Europe and the European
Parliament have recently adopted resolutions about the Holocaust and most
European states are now member of the Holocaust Task Force. In
international relations the acknowledgment of the nation’s role in the
history of the Holocaust has become increasingly important and several
academics have suggested that the Holocaust should and will compose the
cornerstone identity marker for a future common European identity.
The contemporary institutional practices and institutions promoting the idea
of the Holocaust as a uniting factor to the European peoples are analysed in
the paper with Denmark as a case. The three subjects of scrutiny are the
Danish Jewish Museum, the Auschwitz Remembrance Day and the teaching
of Holocaust history in the Danish education system. In addition, political
and academic discourse is also studied. The paper concludes that there is
currently no influential Danish promulgator of the idea that the Holocaust
composes a common European experience that unites the individual
Europeans.
European politics of identity. The Council of Europe and the European
Parliament have recently adopted resolutions about the Holocaust and most
European states are now member of the Holocaust Task Force. In
international relations the acknowledgment of the nation’s role in the
history of the Holocaust has become increasingly important and several
academics have suggested that the Holocaust should and will compose the
cornerstone identity marker for a future common European identity.
The contemporary institutional practices and institutions promoting the idea
of the Holocaust as a uniting factor to the European peoples are analysed in
the paper with Denmark as a case. The three subjects of scrutiny are the
Danish Jewish Museum, the Auschwitz Remembrance Day and the teaching
of Holocaust history in the Danish education system. In addition, political
and academic discourse is also studied. The paper concludes that there is
currently no influential Danish promulgator of the idea that the Holocaust
composes a common European experience that unites the individual
Europeans.
Publishing year
2008
Language
English
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Document type
Working paper
Publisher
Centre for European Studies, Lund university
Topic
- History
Keywords
- politics of identity
- remembrance
- Denmark
- Holocaust
Status
Published